ILLINOIS IMMIGRANTS COMMUNITIES URGING RAHM EMANUEL TO REMIND HIS BOY HEATH SHULER THAT HE IS, AFTER ALL, A DEMOCRAT

Mediocre ex-footballer Heath Shuler had to make a decision back in 2005-- to run for Congress in Tennessee as a Republican against a Democratic incumbent or to run in North Carolina as a Democrat against a Republican incumbent. Eeny-meanie, miney-mo... Then-DCCC Chair Rahm Emanuel persuaded him that there was enough dirt on Charlie Taylor, one of the corrupt GOP congressmen, in western North Carolina, to make that race the most competitive. Shuler decided to "be"-- or at least run as-- a Democrat.

He promptly promised voters in his district that, if elected, he might not vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker because she is too liberal. He did vote for Pelosi in the end, of course, but since then he has consistently been one of the 4 or 5 Democrats who have been most willing to act as rubber stamps for all the most toxic policies of the Bush agenda-- soup to nuts.

He's even gone so far as to work on an anti-immigrants bill with xenophobic maniac Tom Tancredo and to try going around the Democratic congressional leadership by joining the Republicans in a naked, partisan parliamentary maneuver meant to embarrass his own collegues in tough re-election races. Rahm Emanuel's Heath Shuler has been the worst "Democrat" in the House of Representatives since he took the oath of office in 2007.

This morning our pals at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights were back at Rahm Emanuel's Chicago office-- with a leash. They're asking Emanuel to "reign in Rep. Heath Shuler," whom he helped elect, and who is sponsoring a flawed "immigration reform bill" that House Republicans are trying to force to the floor of the House for a vote this week. The Shuler-Tancredo 'SAVE Act' is a disaster for civil liberties and for immigrant and workers rights alike. They also made a short clip that explains why Shuler's bill is the wrong approach to immigration reform:



Emanuel wouldn't see his constituents, possibly because they came with a leash and petition and not check books, but he did send someone out to say he's voting against his boy Shuler's bill.


UPDATE: AND SHULER ISN'T THE ONLY REACTIONARY DEMOCRAT THROWING IMMIGRANTS UNDER THE BUS

DeKalb County, Georgia CEO, Vernon Jones, wants to take on arch-reactionary Senator Saxby Chambliss-- by outflanking him on the right. That would be heard unless Jones started wearing a Nazi uniform, but he does plan to scapegoat immigrants and "get" Chambliss that way. This kind of bigoted appeal to the Know Nothing vote won't work, not even in Georgia-- and especially not for an African-American.